Making Progress
by Whisperwill
Summary: Kakashi has a new task for Sakura, Naruto, and Sasuke.  If only the three of them could figure that task out.  One shot.


**Disclaimer: I don't own the unparalleled _Naruto_.**

**A/N: Original completion date: 3/18/10. (Oh, and if you're looking carefully, this story contains a line from one of my other works of fanfiction.) My second _Naruto_ story. Early Cell 7 stuff, loosely set before the _chunin_ exam in Vol. 6. Please review when you've finished reading!**

**Making Progress**

Missions were one thing. Kakashi watched their backs, but at the same time, he expected a lot of them. And they fought their hardest.

Training was another thing. Kakashi pushed them relentlessly, and often put a twist on a particular exercise to keep them on their toes. And they worked their tails off.

But this request was something else entirely. If Kakashi had said, "Fight," they would have done so in a heartbeat. If he had told them to train, they would have obeyed without a second thought. Strangely, Kakashi didn't do either of those things. He just looked at them with his one eye, the epitome of seriousness, and said, "Walk home." They all blinked, taken unawares.

"What the heck?" Naruto demanded. Sakura was a little more subtle—although Inner Sakura's reaction put Naruto's to shame.

"Master Kakashi, it's barely past dawn," she pointed out in confusion. "We just got up, and came out here to report to you, and now you want us to go _home_?"

"Yep. Walk home together," Kakashi reiterated calmly. He lifted his hand in a wave. "See you tomorrow." In a small swirling of smoke, he vanished. Naruto gawked at the place where he'd been standing; Sakura seemed to be trying to work out what Kakashi meant, and Sasuke looked ticked off to be cheated out of a day's training.

"Come on," he said to his teammates irritably. "Let's go." Sakura quickly fell into step beside him.

"Do you think he was joking?" she wondered aloud. Sasuke shook his head no. Then Naruto, who had been standing stupidly back where they had met Kakashi, raced up to them.

"What are you doing?" he shouted as he stopped in front of them with his arms spread out to block their way. "Are we just going to skip a day of training because Kakashi ran off again?"

"Listen to yourself, idiot," Sakura gibed. She rolled her eyes. "'Kakashi ran off'—so how are we supposed to train without him, I'd like to know?"

"I'll find him," Naruto went on doggedly. "He's around here somewhere, watching us—"

"Exactly," Sasuke cut him off. "This is a test of some sort, and Kakashi is watching us right now to see if we get it right." He stared at Naruto pointedly. "You can go search for Kakashi if you want—look high and low and never find him. Or you can do what he says, like the ninja you're supposed to be." Naruto bristled at the insinuation that he wasn't a true shinobi, but he finally shut his mouth and headed back to central Konohagakure Village, taking the lead as usual.

"What kind of test is it, though?" Sakura asked, obviously hoping Sasuke could come up with the answer like he always did. But he only shook his head.

"It's too simple to just test our obedience. There's something more to it." He didn't say more, and they lapsed into silence until Naruto butted in.

"Hey, Sakura!" he said brightly. "As long as we have the day off, wanna go to the ramen bar with me?"

"Fat chance, loser," Sakura shot him down. She twined her hands around Sasuke's arm. "If _Sasuke_ wanted to go, on the other hand. . ." she hinted with a flirtatious smile. When Sasuke said nothing, Naruto tried again.

"Well then, do you want to go swimming? I know this great place by the statues of the Hokages—"

"And watch you make an imbecile of yourself? No thanks," Sakura brushed him off rudely. She was still as determined to win Sasuke as Naruto was to win her. "Come on, Sasuke," she wheedled, "let's go out for breakfast. I bet you haven't eaten anything yet today. . ."

And so they continued all the way to Sakura's house, Naruto pleading with Sakura, Sakura trying to charm Sasuke, and Sasuke ignoring them both. When they got to her front walk, Sakura released her hold on Sasuke reluctantly. "Well, see you tomorrow, Sasuke," she chimed sweetly, not sparing a word for Naruto. The boys watched her walk up to her front door. Her mother opened it.

"Sakura, you're never home this early," she fretted. "And you had your friends walk you home? Are you all right? Did something happen? Something happened, didn't it?" She searched Sakura's face anxiously, as if at any moment some horrendous wound would reveal itself.

"_Mom_, everything's _fine_," Sakura said impatiently, waving her mother off. "Master Kakashi called training off today, that's all. You're so _annoying_ sometimes."

"Don't take that tone with me," Sakura's mother scolded her. "I worry about you—"

"You don't _need_ to worry about me," Sakura interrupted her flatly. "Mom, I'm a _ninja_, don't forget—I can take care of myself."

"You're a ninja," conceded Sakura's mother, "but you're also my little girl—"

"I'm twelve years old—"

"Exactly!"

They went inside, still arguing. Naruto and Sasuke stared at the place where they had been for a long time, not saying anything, both wondering what it would be like if the two of them still had parents to annoy them and love them. Finally Sasuke looked sideways at Naruto and said, in a voice which implied his annoyance with the assignment, "Come on—we still have to walk together, and your house is closer." Naruto nodded and set off down the street with a lost-puppy expression on his face, Sasuke trailing behind. It didn't take them long to reach Naruto's little house.

"See you tomorrow," Naruto mumbled to Sasuke. Knowing exactly what was going through his teammate's head, Sasuke paused for a moment, then called out,

"Hey."

Naruto turned and asked quizzically, "What?"

Sasuke, smirking, folded his arms and, with the complacency of one who was completely confident in his abilities, remarked mockingly, "Good luck tomorrow. You might even have a chance of besting me, if you train hard."

"What?" Naruto exclaimed furiously. He clenched one of his hands and pointed at Sasuke with the other. "Listen, you jerk—you're gonna regret you said that, 'cause I'm gonna mop the _floor_ with you tomorrow!" he snarled. Sasuke shrugged smugly.

"You mean you're gonna _try_," he corrected Naruto, who looked as though he was about to blow sky-high with anger.

"I'll be the best—wait and see!" Naruto raged. All previous gloom forgotten, he zoomed into the house to get whatever few minutes' head start he could on Sasuke. Had he bothered to look behind him, he would have seen that the last surviving member of the Uchiha Clan had an uncharacteristic expression on his face. Not a scowl, not a smirk, but a very faint, self-satisfied smile.

Hatake Kakashi stood high above them in a tree. If he had been standing an inch to the right or left, he would have been visible to the boys below; as it was, he was perfectly concealed in the leaves. He held a grading scroll in his hand, upon which he was making marks as he talked to himself under his breath.

"'Haruno Sakura' . . ." he muttered, making a scratch below her name. "'No change.' 'Uzumaki Naruto' . . ." He chuckled and shook his head. "'Same as usual.'" His hand hovered above the last name. "'Uchiha Sasuke' . . ." The mask covering his face crinkled with the smile hidden behind it. "'Making progress.'"

= The End =


End file.
